Wednesday, March 2, 2011

DIY: felt flower wreath

It was the day before my daughter's 6th birthday--end of January.  We were having 4 little girls come over for a treasure hunt.  Read more about that here.  The house needed some color--fast.  I don't know where the idea came from--usually I get my inspiration from others, but this came to me in a flash.  A felt flower wreath and I had (almost) all the supplies on hand.  
18 inch straw wreath - I highly recommend the straw wreaths ($4-5) as opposed to the styrofoam ($12)
various fabric remnants
multiple sheets of different colors of felt, including light/med/dark green
tulle
pom poms or buttons
glue gun/sticks

My daughter and I made a bunch of felt flower broaches last spring to send out a little gifts to friends and family and we had some left over.   I looked around for some other designs to mix it up a bit; I think if I had more than 24 hours to put this together, I might have incorporated even more kinds of flowers, but I think it turned out pretty well as-is.

These are great tutorials I used... you can find:
the fabric flowers here by Pink Paper Peppermints
the felt flowers here by Betz White
the dark pink pointsetta type at about 5 o'clock here
(from Martha Stewart, but I cannot find the link now)
I started by making a LOT of flowers, more is better, for this--I did 23.  I then wrapped the wreath with the tulle to give a base for better adhering and to add some interest--but you can't even see it really.  Then, I cut several leaves, free-form, in 3 different greens and placed them all around--facing in and out to mix it up.  I found my handy-dandy glue gun was the perfect tool for the job.  And finally, I just started arranging the flowers: clustering the small ones together, giving the big ones some room.  It was fun; I just played around till it looked right.
that dark blob the lower right-hand corner is our dog, Josie.
It would have greeted our special guests on the outside of the door, except for the freezing rain, snow and wind SO I hung it on the inside where I think it made quite a lovely statement and provided just the color I was looking for.

7 comments:

  1. Quentin,

    Your wreath is absolutely beautiful! I was just thinking about what kind of spring decorations to put on the door and I *love* this. Now will I have time to make it???

    Love your pretty blog too, (that potsticker recipe looks yummy!)

    ♥ Melissa~
    Pink Paper Peppermints

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  2. Thanks Melissa!! I so appreciate your comments...and your wonderful tutorial to help bring it all together. Will check back in on you and your sweet blog often!

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  3. Wowee, Quentin! That wreath is just beautiful. Such a great mix of color and texture. You know how hooked I am on flowers. Lovely! And congratulations on your new blog.

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  4. Thanks so much Larissa for your kind words and awesome blog! I will check back often for more wonderful inspiration!

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  5. Wow Quentin, that wreath is incredible! A truly fine piece of craft. I'm totally lovin' the blog!

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  6. Liz!! Thanks so much--I am so glad you are checking in!! I want to get your address and I'll send you some a few little gifts...xo, Q.

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  7. I've put together a round up of pretty spring wreath projects on Craft Gossip today and included your post. :) You can see it here
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/6-pretty-springtime-wreaths/

    If you would like to share the Craft Gossip love and show your visitors you've been featured, you can grab a button here!
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/

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